Artist’s Reception with Barbara La Valleur

Meet international photojournalist Barbara La Valleur at an artist’s reception in the Social Hall after services on Sunday, Sept. 16.

Barbara’s work is on view in the Social Hall through October 14 in an exhibit called ¡Hola, Cuba!, which features 60 photographs, taken in early 2018, depicting Cuban people, places and scenes in Havana and Matanzas, a city on the north coast known for its poets, culture, and Afro-Cuban folklore.

In a colorful series of canvas prints, ubiquitous American cars from the 1950s and 1960s that serve as today’s Havana taxis are highlighted next to a grouping of clothesline photographs hung cleverly on an actual clothesline.

Fidel Castro images are featured on a billboard as well as a striking image juxtaposed with a José Martí portrait. A sampling of images of Cuban people provides a window into the daily lives of the people on this Caribbean island.

Another series spotlights Callejon de Hamel, a popular two-block alley resplendent with funky murals, playful sculptures and artfully hung bathtubs which serve as canvases as well as seating objects, the work of Salvador González Escalona, a well-known Cuban Muralist and his artist friends.

La Valleur, a native of Ashby and Battle Lake, was the first person to major in Mass Communications at Minnesota State University, Moorhead. She worked at The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, Carib Magazine in the US Virgin Islands, the Daily News of Wahpeton-Breckenridge before moving to Europe for 20 years. She lived in England for over two years before moving to Germany for 18 years where she also freelanced full-time for seven German newspapers. She currently lives in Edina with her husband.